Panda Energy Receives Air Permit for Texas Power Plant

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality recently granted Panda Energy International Inc. an air permit for the company’s planned 500-megawatt combined-cycle power plant in Sherman, Texas.

The natural gas-fueled generating station will be able to supply the power needs of approximately 400,000 homes in North Texas and is expected to provide an economic stimulus of more than $248,000,000 into the area’s economy during the plant’s first 10 years of operation.

At peak construction, an estimated 400-500 construction jobs will be created to build the power plant, which will take approximately two years. During operations, the generating station will create an estimated 34 high-paying jobs to run the facility and 45 indirect jobs within the community to support it.

“The granting of the Sherman air permit is a major milestone,” said Todd Carter, president of Dallas-based Panda Energy International Inc. “We are one step closer to breaking ground on a project that, once complete, should be an economic boon for the entire North Texas region.

The Panda Sherman generating station will be one of the cleanest natural gas power plants in the nation, according to the company. Nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions at the facility will be controlled to 2.0 parts per million — among the very lowest of any power plant in Texas. By comparison, the majority of the state’s existing and recently constructed natural gas-fueled generating facilities have been permitted from nearly 2 to 4.5 times the emissions levels as the Panda Sherman project. The Panda project is one of the state’s first to be permitted at the more stringent 2.0 NOx air quality standard.

Natural gas for the Sherman project will come from the Barnett Shale and will be supplied by Texas gas producers. The generating station will be located on a 200-acre site at the Progress Industrial Park in Sherman. Next steps for the project include obtaining long-term power contracts, selection of an EPC contractor and securing financing.
Panda Energy previously announced that it plans to build, own and operate a 1,000-megawatt natural gas-fueled, combined-cycle power plant in Temple, Texas. The project is expected to supply the power needs of approximately 900,000 homes in Central Texas and should bring more than $500,000,000 to the area’s economy during the plant’s first 10 years of operation.